Friday Report – May 12, 2017

May 12, 2017

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The Friday Report

May 12, 2017

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Today marks the end of this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week. The Public School Forum joins many others who express their gratitude to teachers. Our work at the Forum consistently shows us how teachers prepare and motivate students to succeed in school, in the marketplace, and in life. With that in mind, to all teachers throughout North Carolina: we applaud you for the hard work you do each and every day for our state’s children!

We encourage each of you to thank a teacher, not just this week but every day!

Forum News

Public School Forum to Honor Former Senator Howard Lee Next Week

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The Public School Forum will honor former North Carolina Senator Howard N. Lee next week with its 2017 Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award. Lee will be honored at a gala event on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

The Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award was established by the Public School Forum of North Carolina in 2000 to recognize exemplary leaders who have made outstanding contributions to public education in North Carolina.

Howard Lee has been a trailblazer his entire life. He was the first African-American to be named a cabinet secretary and the first to chair the State Board of Education. In the North Carolina Senate, Lee built his reputation as a fighter for education reform, advocating for higher teacher salaries, increased funding for public and higher education and raising teacher and student standards.

Each year the Public School Forum of North Carolina reserves complimentary tickets for our North Carolina educators to join us for our signature annual event, the Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award Gala. The event will be May 18, 2017 at the Raleigh Convention Center from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The Forum is thrilled to honor former North Carolina Senator Howard N. Lee. The reception starts at 6:00 PM and the dinner and program is at 7:00 PM.

Complimentary tickets will be given on a first come, first served basis. Click here to put your name on the request list.

New Episodes of Education Matters Return May 27

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Our weekly TV show Education Matters is currently being pre-empted due to the NHL Playoffs on NBC.

For a detailed spreadsheet and line-item analysis of the Senate’s K-12 education budget proposal, please see the NC Department of Public Instruction’s 2017 Budget Summary and its Financial & Business Services’ Comparison of the 2017-18 Proposed Budgets. The highlights of the Senate budget proposal include:

1. $600 million in additional funding for K-12 public education

2. $131 million in teacher raises & incentive pay (over the next two years)

On average 3.7% salary increase in 2017-18 (not across the board raise for all). Largest raises go to teachers with 9-14 years of experience.

No increases for teachers at Steps 0 or 25+, all other Steps receive an increase in base salary.

Salary incentives for highly qualified teachers in “low-performing” schools and in special education and STEM fields.

[See NEA story below on NC’s rankings in teacher pay and per-pupil spending]

One-time bonus up to $5,000 for those whose schools were in the top 50% of growth statewide

Another bonus for principals whose school moves from below or met growth in 2015-16 to exceeded growth in 2016-17; and a higher bonus if said school was a D or F school

$5 million increase for assistant principals’ base pay, which is now tied to the top level of the A teacher pay scale plus 13%

4. $10 million cut to Central Office Administration in 2017-18 and a $15 million cut in 2018-19

5. No additional funding in 18-19 for the class size reduction or K-5 special subject teachers (art, music, PE) but states the intent to fund such teachers as follows:

“SECTION 7.14.(d) It is the intent of the General Assembly to use the data collected in accordance with the reporting requirements set forth in Section 2 of S.L. 2017-9 [HB 13] to fund a new allotment for kindergarten through fifth grade program enhancement teachers for local school administrative units beginning with the 2018-2019 fiscal year”

6. Full funding for student enrollment growth, estimated at 9,000 new students in 2017-18

7. Eliminates local school boards’ current statutory authority to file lawsuits challenging sub-standard local funding from county commissioners (see also, SB 531)

8. Cracks down on local budget flexibility by imposing new restrictions, including:

Restricting converting or cashing out the K-5 classroom teacher positions for other purposes

Prohibiting transfer of textbooks and digital resources funds

9. $75 million in a new “Needs-Based School Capital Fund” for public school construction in needy counties through state lottery proceeds (where the Education Lottery advertising allowance is increased from 1 to 2%; therefore, generating more proceeds)

10. 1,150 additional Pre-K slots for eligible children in 2017-18; and 2,350 more children in 2018-19

14. Maintains the 2016-enacted progressive scale for increased funding for Opportunity Scholarships with recurring increases of $10 million each year until 2027 at which time the total recurring state appropriation will be $144,840,000

15. Creates Personal Education Savings Accounts (the newest voucher program): a program where parents of special education children could receive up to $9,000 per year of tax money in a “personal education account” to be used for eligible educational expenses, including tuition and other services in private, nonpublic school settings.

16. Funds the re-created Teaching Fellows Program through the Education Endowment

Reforms the current law requiring A-F Grades for schools and adds new indicators to the formula for these grades

Confirms that there will be only one accountability system for both state and federal requirements

20. Drops the state cap on Driver Education fees and offers up to a $275 reimbursement for students who successfully complete a private or public Driver Education program

21. In Juvenile Justice, raises the age to 18 for prosecution as an adult, such that 16- and 17-year olds are treated as juveniles for misdemeanors, effective December 2020. No funds for this reform yet as Senators are waiting for November 2017 report on the costs involved; however, the House has indicated its intent to fund this “Raise the Age” initiative

22. Closes the Wright School, a residential mental health center and school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders

23. No retiree medical benefits for new hires. No Cost of Living Increase (COLA) for retirees

24. Funds new Opioid Prevention pilot program

25. Eliminates state funding for Governor’s School, a long-standing summer program for gifted high school students, effective 2018, and the funds would be diverted to start a new “Legislative School for Leadership and Public Service”

NC Ranks 35th in Nation for Teacher Pay; 43rd in Per-Pupil Spending

North Carolina ranks 35th in the nation for average teacher pay, an improvement from last year, when the state ranked 41st, according to estimates released Wednesday by the National Education Association. Among the 12 states in the Southeast, North Carolina now ranks fifth, an improvement from ninth last year. The State Board of Education has set a goal to become No. 1 in the Southeast.

The NEA’s report, which details everything from teacher pay to school enrollment and funding by state, shows North Carolina’s average teacher salary is $49,837 for the 2016-17 school year. That’s about $9,000 less than the national average of $58,950, according to the report.

The figures represent the average gross salary before deductions for things such as Social Security, retirement and insurance and do not take into account cost-of-living differences among the states.

NEA’s report also found that North Carolina is projected to be ranked 43rd in the nation in per-pupil spending. It ranked 42nd last year. North Carolina is projected to spend $8,940 per student, down from $8,955 the prior year.

On Teacher Appreciation Day, Gov. Roy Cooper told teachers at Combs Elementary School in Raleigh that public education is one of his top priorities.

Raising teacher salaries and school budget for classroom supplies are important measures in his proposed budget, Cooper said.

“I wish I could thank every teacher all over North Carolina personally, but what we’ll do is try to get a good budget to show them how much we appreciate them,” Cooper said. “I think North Carolinians want to invest in public education. They know how important it is, so we’ve got our work cut out for us as we enter into the budget negotiations.”

Under Cooper’s proposed budget, public school teachers would receive 10 percent raises on average over two years, along with $150 stipends to purchase classroom supplies.

During the 2015-16 school year, the average teacher salary in the Wake County school system was $50,803, according to the school system’s annual financial report.

Cooper’s appearance Tuesday was prompted by a letter his office received from Sarah Edgar, a first-grade student at Combs who invited him to visit the school. Sarah, 7, included a picture of a rainforest and said she was “in shock” when her teachers told her Cooper was coming.

North Carolina’s foster kids are not all right. More than 12,000 children are wards of the state — up about 25 percent over the past five years, Sen. Tamara Barringer, R-Wake, told Carolina Journal.

No one can explain the spike, and state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are working toward an answer. Causes for foster placement include population growth, increases in drug addiction, physical abuse, and mental health issues, said Jamaica Pfister, triangle area director of the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina.

Barringer, a foster parent for more than a decade, adopted three children from within the system. “After I’ve seen what I’ve seen, I cannot stay silent,” she said. She has seen 3- and 5-year-old kids with broken bones. Children who were traumatized after they were locked in dark closets. Some who were abandoned, and some who were sexually abused.

Social services should be priority, but North Carolina’s system is failing, said Barringer, who last month helped introduce bicameral legislation that could fix multiple problems.

The Family/Child Protection Accountability Act, Senate Bill 594, is designed to make social services more efficient and accountable. A 2017 legislative study on Homeless Youth, Foster Care, and Dependency was a catalyst for the bill, said Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, a primary sponsor of the House version, House Bill 608.

Hundreds of students attending private schools using taxpayer money, along with their counterparts in public schools, volunteered to take an extra test this spring as part of a project that aims to show how the groups compare academically.

Researchers at N.C. State University are running the project that will have students in public and private schools take a short-form version of a well-known standardized exam called the Iowa Test.

The state voucher program is in its third year, but there hasn’t been a way to know whether students who use the money for private school are doing better, worse or the same compared to public school students.

Students attending private schools do not take the same state standardized tests required in public schools. Private schools that take vouchers must give students a standardized test each year whose results can be compared to test-takers nationally, but the schools can choose which test they give. Results are not publicly reported unless the school has more than 25 students who use vouchers, called Opportunity Scholarships.

“We don’t have a common measure to compare against the public school students,” said Trip Stallings, director of policy research at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. Stallings is part of the research team doing the study.

The state in 2014 began paying private-school tuition of up to $4,200 a year for students who leave public schools and whose families meet income guidelines.

The law setting up the program required that the office that runs it, the State Education Assistance Authority, hire an independent research organization to examine learning gains and losses among scholarship students and effects on public school performance. The N.C. State researchers are doing the study on behalf of the assistance authority.

State Board Chairman Calls for Changes to Achievement School District Law

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State Board of Education Chairman Bill Cobey (pictured left) would like to see “some tweaks in the legislation” before the board chooses which low-performing schools will be included in the state’s new Achievement School District, he told WRAL News in an interview last week.

The new district will take five struggling public elementary schools in the state and put them under new management. Outside entities, such as charter school operators, will take control of the schools and supervise, manage and operate them with the goal of improving their performance.

The state board has chosen a superintendent to lead the new district and help choose which five schools will be included. But, so far, they have not put together a list of which schools could be considered.

“We’ve got some of our legislative people working on the General Assembly (to) make some tweaks in the legislation before we make a list,” Cobey said. He would like the law to expand the number of schools that can be considered. “I don’t know what that looks like, but you don’t want to narrow it,” Cobey said.

The current law states that for a school to be considered, it must meet certain qualifications, such as having a school performance score in the lowest 5 to 10 percent of all schools in the past year and not exceeding or meeting growth on test scores in at least one of the past three years.

While Cobey waits to see if lawmakers will make changes, he estimates it could be two or three months before the state education department puts together a list of possible schools to consider. The new Achievement School District will likely not be up and running until the 2018-19 school year, a year later than some had hoped.

The State Board of Education hired Dr. Maria Pitre-Martin, former NCDPI chief academic and digital learning officer and Thomasville City Schools’ superintendent, last week as the new deputy state superintendent at the NC Department of Public Instruction.

Pitre-Martin (pictured right) has assumed her new duties.

State Board Superintendent Advisor Freddie Williamson praised the selection of Pitre-Martin. “I am extremely satisfied by this choice,” he said. “Dr. Pitre-Martin’s experience as a local superintendent and also as a state education leader will serve the local school districts well. She understands the critical role of collaboration and ongoing communication with the local districts and schools. This makes such a difference.”

Wake Superintendent and in-coming State Board Advisor Jim Merrill congratulated the Board on the selection. “We look forward to working with Dr. Pitre-Martin in her new capacity as deputy superintendent,” he said. “Her experience in DPI and in a local school district as superintendent brings great knowledge and credibility to the role. The superintendents in North Carolina look forward to working with her.”

NC Teachers From Across the State Awarded Prestigious Kenan Fellowships

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On National Teacher Day, the Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership was pleased to announce its 2017–18 fellowship awards for K–12 educators.

Twenty-eight teachers from across North Carolina have been selected from a pool of more than 125 highly qualified applicants. We anticipate awarding an additional fellowship later this spring dependent on funding.

The 2017–18 Kenan Fellows will spend at least three weeks of their summer interning with local experts in agriculture, telecommunications, nanotechnology, cell research, energy, computing and other STEM fields. Traditionally, teachers go from earning a college degree straight to the classroom and do not spend time working in business or industry. The Kenan Fellows Program internship gives educators the practical knowledge and application to better prepare students for college and careers by showing them how STEM at work is relevant to STEM in school.

“Studies show that teachers are the most important in-school factor contributing to student achievement. Innovative and informed educators can provide tools to help students understand how STEM disciplines are applied in local businesses, industries, and research settings,” said Dr. Elaine Franklin, director of the Kenan Fellows Program. “Through our program, teachers implement hands-on, student-focused tools to prepare students to become productive and informed citizens.”

As part of the award, Kenan Fellows receive a $5,000 stipend and participate in 80 hours of professional development focused on project-based learning, digital learning and leadership development. Educators who complete the year-long program remain in the classroom while growing professionally as part of a statewide network of teacher leaders. Today, an elite network of more than 400 Kenan Fellows are working to improve STEM education in North Carolina and beyond.

Wendy Robinson wants to make one thing very clear. As the long-serving superintendent of Fort Wayne public schools, Indiana’s largest district, she is not afraid of competition from private schools.

“We’ve been talking choice in this community and in this school system for almost 40 years,” Robinson says. Her downtown office sits in the shadow of the city’s grand, Civil War-era Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. In Fort Wayne, a parking lot is the only thing that separates the beating heart of Catholic life from the brains of the city’s public schools.

In fact, steeples dominate the skyline of the so-called City of Churches. Fort Wayne has long been a vibrant religious hub, home to more than 350 churches, many of which also run their own schools.

While the city’s public and private schools managed, for decades, to co-exist amicably, that changed in 2011, Robinson says. That’s when state lawmakers began the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program, a plan to allow low-income students to use vouchers, paid for with public school dollars, to attend private, generally religious schools.

Six years later, Indiana’s statewide voucher program is now the largest of its kind in the country and, with President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos openly encouraging states to embrace private school choice, the story of the Choice Scholarship — how it came to be, how it works and whom it serves — has become a national story of freedom, faith, poverty and politics.

Our story begins in Fort Wayne, where the state now spends $20 million a year on voucher students, more than in any other district. This year, $1.1 million of that $20 million went to one private, K-8 school: St. Jude Catholic School.

President Donald Trump and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, have made local control a major focus of their statements on K-12. And Trump underscored that priority in his recent executive order calling on DeVos to take a hard look at where the federal government has overreached on K-12 education.

The order directs DeVos to review, tweak, and even repeal regulations and guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education recently, as well as identify places where the federal government has overstepped its legal authority.

Recently, “too many in Washington have advanced top-down mandates that take away autonomy and limit the options available to educators, administrators, and parents,” said Rob Goad, a senior Education Department aide, on a call with reporters last month. The executive order puts “an end to this overreach, ensuring that states and localities are free to make educational decisions,” he added.

In response to the executive order, a task force at the department, led by Robert Eitel, a senior adviser to the secretary, will look at all the K-12 regulations put out by prior administrations and decide which step on local control, Goad said. After 300 days, the department is supposed to release a report on its findings.

Applications Open for 2017-18 NC Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP)

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The Public School Forum is now accepting applications for the 2017-18 cohort of the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).

The Public School Forum has led the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program since 1992, and it has continued to be the only statewide program of its kind that focuses on leadership and professional development in the context of education policy. Each new class continues the trend of high caliber participants and is rich in its members’ range of experiences, both professionally and personally. Fellows come from public schools, higher education, community colleges, state agencies, and a diverse array of education organizations across North Carolina. Each class includes a cohort of Fellows who focus on education policy issues and the wide range of factors that influence education in North Carolina. The program is designed for Fellows to learn about issues and perspectives in education that they don’t always encounter in their daily work so that they can be more informed, rounded contributors to the critical education debates that shape the quality and focus of schools. Fellows increase their awareness of how public policy is made, learn whom the key players are in the formation of this policy, and become more confident and involved in the policy-making process. Leadership development is a key focus of the Education Policy Fellowship Program.

North Carolina educators have plenty of opportunities throughout the fall to attend the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT), a recognized national leader in professional development programming for teachers. Applicants are encouraged to register as soon as possible to ensure a spot. Programs are available to North Carolina educators at the Cullowhee and Ocracoke campuses, online and with NCCAT faculty visiting school districts. NCCAT provides food, lodging and programming. Teachers and or their districts are responsible for travel to and from the center and the cost of the substitute teacher. For more information visit www.nccat.org.

Some upcoming programs include:

14458 • ACHIEVING AGAINST THE ODDS: FOCUS ON READING

September 18–21: Cullowhee

Today’s diverse students enter school eager to become successful in classrooms originally designed for culturally homogeneous populations and are expected to learn from teachers who are often not from the same cultural, ethnic/race or social-class. Unsurprisingly, student performance in reading and other subjects is often low while student dropout and teacher burnout rates are high. This program guides participants to explore and document their experiences in motivating at-risk students to become effective readers. In addition to sharing successful strategies for improving reading skills and producing a written narrative, participants will use several technology applications to capture their stories about students who have achieved against the odds and become motivated and skilled readers who excel academically.

Wondering how to engage your students as they explore and develop math understanding and mastery? You can make math meaningful for your students. Come and refresh your understanding of Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) as you engage in activities designed to help connect the ways your students are “smart” to the NC Math Standards. Explore and develop learning strategies to support math mastery as we look at planning for and assessing math standards for your grade level. With ideas for the self-smart and the people-smart, the naturalist, musical, verbal, kinesthetic and visual learners, you’ll leave ready to start your year the MI way! This program is presented by A+ Schools of North Carolina.

14485 • READING, WRITING, AND READY BY THIRD GRADE: EARLY GRADES LITERACY INSTRUCTION

November 13–16: Ocracoke

Literacy instruction is as difficult as it is essential. This program will provide early grades teachers with a complement of research-based tools and strategies to help answer some of their more burning questions: How do I teach close reading to students who don’t yet know the alphabet? What level of writing can I attain from children who are still learning to spell? How do I simultaneously provide enrichment for advanced readers and remediation for delayed readers? How can I integrate reading and writing instruction into all other subject areas? Finally, what does this instruction look like in the classroom and how are student engagement and learning measured in this process?

14489 • GOOGLE TOOLS IN SCHOOLS

December 4–7: Ocracoke

Whether or not your school or district has adopted a Google Chromebook environment, if your LEA infrastructure allows for the use of Google Tools and/or Apps, the “Googlesphere” can be an immense help. It can aid in engaging students, keeping in touch with parents, automating feedback and assessment, sharing documents, and more. Hone your skills with the Google Chrome Browser, with Google Apps, with Android Apps, and with Chrome OS so that you can engage your students using freely available tools on almost any platform.

Women in Educational Leadership Symposium (WIELS) Call for Proposals

The second conference of the Women in Educational Leadership Symposium (WIELS) will be held at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina on September 22 through September 24, 2017. The purpose of WIELS is to bring women together to share, learn, and grow in leadership. Women who are interested in learning from others and those who are willing to share skills and expertise are urged to attend. This conference aims to provide personalized learning and mentoring opportunities for those who aspire to become or currently serve as educational leaders. The conference theme is Advancing the Leader Within: Building Capacity. Attendees are urged to submit proposals on salient issues, skills, and experiences affecting women leaders.

The Friday Report is published weekly by the Public School Forum of NC and is distributed to Forum members, policymakers, donors, media, and Forum subscribers. Archived editions can be found at www.ncforum.org.